My new variety of lily plant originated as a seedling selected from a group of seedlings at Gresham, Oreg. The seedlings were planted during a breeding program carried on by me since the year 1965. This program had as its primary objective the production of upright hybrid Asiatic lilies in the pink and peach shades, characterized by plant vigor, rapid propagation, high resistance to disease, tolerance of infection by virus, having flowers of superior form and color, and suitable for producing cut flowers when forced from pre-cooled bulbs.
I achieved the desired objective by using as the seed parent a clone selected from crossing Lilium .times. `Cinnabar` with a lilac-colored seedling from the complex hybrid Lilium `Harlequin` strain. The pollen parent was produced from crossing an unspotted clone of lilium dauricum with a clone from the complex hybrid Lilium `Hallmark` strain.
My new lily plant has vigorous growth and propagation characteristics. Its stems are dark in color and provide an attractive contrast to the abundant foliage which is deep green in color with a reddish cast.
The plant has a large number of buds, producing from 7 to 12 from a bulb 5 to 7 inches in circumference. The buds are a unique and attractive peach-pink color when the tepals first divide, and this color intensifies when the tepals begin to unfurl.
The flowers are particularly distinctive. They are characterized by tepals of fine form, unusual breadth and thickness, and sharp clean outline. They are lightly spotted, primarily at the base, and are an unusual and unique peach-pink color, with a deeper gold flush at the center and with a deeper pink flush at the tepal tips.
The plant is one of the most vigorous upright Asiatic lilies yet produced. It is a rapid propagator, and has superb disease resistance and a high degree of tolerance to infection by virus. It is an excellent garden lily and satisfactory for use in the cut flower or pot plant trade by forcing precooled bulbs, all as observed at Gresham, Oreg.
My new variety of lily plant has been asexually reproduced by me and under my direction at Gresham, Oreg. Successive generations produced by bulb scale propagation and natural propagation from bulblets have demonstrated that the novel and distinctive characteristics of my new variety are fixed and hold true under asexual propagation from generation to generation.